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SPEECH 



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OF 



HON. JAMES W. GRIMES, OF IOWA, 



ON THE 



SURRENDER OF SLAVES BY THE ARMY; 



DELIVERED 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, APRIL 14, 1862 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE 

1862. 



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V 



SPEECH 



On motion of Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, the Senate 
proceeded to consider the following resolution, submitted 
by him on the 3d of April: 

Resolved, Tliat tlie Committee on Military Affairs and 
the Militia be directed to consider and report whether any 
further legislation is necessary to prevent persons employed 
in the military service of tlie United States from aiding in 
the return or control over persons claimed as fugitive slaves, 
and to punish them therefor. 

Mr. GRIMES. I propose to amend the reso- 
lution by adding to it: 

And to report what reorganization of the Army in its 
personnel, or otherwise, may be necessary to promote the 
public welfare, and bring tlie rebellion to a speedy and 
triumphant end. 

It is, of course, to be expected that there will 
be great ditFerences of opinion among the friends 
of the Government as to the manner in which the 
present war should be conducted. Such differ- 
ences are the natural results of our various do- 
mestic institutions, systems of education, modes 
of thought, degrees of civilization, and of indi- 
vidual opinions of the necessities of our situation. 
But there are certain great fundamental principles 
upon which, one would think, all ought to agree. 
We certainly ought to do nothing and suffer noth- 
ing to be done calculated in any degree to repel or 
paralyze the efforts of our friends at home, who 
are doing everything in their power to encourage 
and sustain the soldiers in the field. While in- 
culcating the necessity of tlie strictest obedience 
to military duty, it should be constantly borne in 
mind that ours are a citizen soldiery, soon to re- 
turn to the bosom of civil society, and that the 
performance of no unsoldierly duty should be re- 
quired of them that would be calculated to impair 
their self-respect, diminish their regard for tJieir 
officers, incite them to rebel against discipline, or 
taint their reputations at home. It must not be 
expected that the natural instincts of humanity 
will be stifled by military orders, and surely our 
soldiers should not be required to assist in the 
perpetration of acts against which every enlight- 
ened sentiment of their hearts revolts. One would 
think that all men would agree in pronouncing 
that a cruel and despotic order which repeals the 
divine precept, " inasmuch as ye did it not to one 
of the least of these ye did it not to me," and ar- 
bitrarily forbids the soldier to bestow a crust of 



bread or a cup of water upon a wretched, famish- 
ing fugitive escaping from our own as well as from 
his enemy. Yet, Mr. President, I grieve to >ay 
that there arc those high in rank in the servii -; of 
the United States who have sought to breakdown 
the spirit of manhood, which is the crooning giory 
of true soldiers, by requiring them to,do acts riui- 
side of their profes.sion which they abhor, aiid to 
smother all impulses to tho-sp.d^eds of chanty 
which they have been taught fla: believe are the 
characteristics of Christian gentlemen. 

It was known to the country at an early day 
after the commencement of the war, that some mil- 
itary commanders were abusing the great power 
intrusted to them, and were employing the Army 
to assist in the capture and rendition of fugitive 
slaves, not in aid of any judicial process, but in 
obedience to their own unbridled will. The effect 
of this assumption of unauthorized power was to 
incite the soldiery to disobedience, and to arouse 
the people to the necessity of proper legislative 
restraints. It was in comjDliance with the pop- 
ular sentiment on this subject that Congress 
enacted the additional article of war, which was 
approved on the 13th of March last, and which 
declared that 

" All officers or persons in the military or naval service of 
the United Status are prohibited from employing any of the 
forces under their respective commands for the purpose: of 
returning fugitives from service or labor, who may have 
escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor 
is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found 
guilty by court martial of violating this article shall be dis- 
missed from the service." 

It was intended by this article to prevent the 
military service from becoming odious to the peo- 
ple who support the war, and degrading to those 
who have volunteered to fight under our banners. 
It simply declares that the Army of the United 
States shall not be perverted from the legitimate 
use for which it was raised, while it interferes in 
no degree with the claim of any man to a person 
alleged to be a slave; it leaves questions o( • 
character to be settled, and rights of that de ; - 
tion to be enforced by other than the militar. .la- 
thority. The intention of those who vottd for 
that article was, not to abridge any man's rights, 
but to leave every one to his legal remedies as 
though no war existed. 



How is this new article of war enforced ? It 
has been promulgated to the Army it is true. It 
may not be openly and avowedly violated. Sol- 
diers may not hereafter be required to actually 
perform the humiliating office of fastening man- 
•acles upon the limbs of persons said to be slaves, 
nor to escort them to the residences of their mas- 
ters; but the experience of the last few days has 
taught us that, notwithstanding tiie new article of 
war, our military officers suffer their camps to be 
invaded by armed detachments of slave-hunters, 
without the support of any process of law, who 
there attempt to shoot, maim, and kill with impu- 
nity those whom they claim to be slaves, while 
our soldiers are required to stand indifferently by 
and witness the inhuman work. There seems to 
be a purpose in some quarters to do by indirec- 
tion what cannot be done directly. The object 
being to serve slaveholders, whetherloyal or rebel, 
(and they are generally rebels,) there seems to be 
a disposition on the part of some officers to travel 
around a law which they dare not break through. 
Unable any longer to compel the soldiers to engage 
in the search, capture, and rendition of slaves, 
they now authorize slave-hunters, armed with pis- 
tols and military orders, to traverse their camps 
in search of their prey, and, by threat of military 
punishment, attempt to compel the soldiers tore- 
main quiescentwitnesses of the atrocities that may 
be committed. There is no controversy about the 
fact, the evidence is overwhelming and is to be 
found on every hand. General Joseph Hooker, 
a native of Massachusetts, in command of a divis- 
ion of our Army, a short time since issued an 
order, of which the following is a copy: 

Headquarters, Hooker's Division, (^"amp Baker, 
Lower Potomac, itfarcA, 26, 1862. 
To Brigade and Regimental Commanders of this Division: 

Messrs. Nally, Gray, Dummington, Dent, Adams, Speake, 
Price, Posey, and Coliey, citizens of Maryland, liavc ne- 
groes supposed to be willi some of the regiments of this 
division ; the brigadier general commanding directs that they 
be permitted to visit all the camps of his command, in search 
of their property, and if I'ound, that they be allowed to uike 
possession of the same, without any interference whatever. 
Should any obstacle be thrown in their way by any officer 
or soldier in the division, they will be at once'roported by 
the regimental commanders to these headquarters. 
By command of Brigadier General Hooker. 

JOSEPH DICKINSON, 
^ssista7it JidjiUant General. 

It will be observed that this order authorizes 
nine persons, citizens of Maryland, to visit the 
camps of Hooker's division, without any judicial 
or other process than this military order, and there 
search for slaves " withoutany interference what- 
ever, "and "should any obstacle be thrown in 
their way, by any officer or soldier in the divis- 
ion," they are threatened with an instant report to 
headquarters and a consequent court-martial and 
punishment. The appearance and conduct of this 
band of marauders produced precisely the result 
that might have been anticipated. In describing 
it, I use the language of the officer in command of 
one of the regimental camps which they visited 
and attempted to search: 

Headquarters Second Regiment 
Excelsior Brigade, Camp Hall, March 27, 1862. 
Lieutenant: Incompliance with verbal directions from 
Brigadier General D. E. Sickles, to report as to the occur- 



rence at this camp on the afternoon of the 26th instant, I 
beg leave to submit the following: 

At about 3.30 o'clock, p. ni., March 26, 1862, admission 
within our lines was demanded by a party of horsemen, 
(civilians,) numbering, perhaps, lii'teen. Thev presented 
the lieutenant commanding the guard with an "order of en- 
trance from Brigadier General Joseph Hooker, command- 
ing division, (copy appended,) the order stating that tiine 
men should be admitted. I ordered that the balance of the 
party should remain without the lines ; which was done. 
Upon the appearance of the others, there was visible dis- 
satisfaction and considerable murmuring among the sol- 
diers, to so great an extent that I almost feared for the safety 
of the slaveowners. At this time General Sickles oppor- 
tunely arrived, and instructed me to order them outside the 
camp, which I did, amidst the loud cheers of our soldiers. 
It is proper to add, that before entqring our lines, and within 
about seventy-five or one hundred yards of our camp, one 
of their number discharged two pistol shots at a negro, who-, 
was running past them, with an evident intention of taking 
his life. Tliis justly enraged our men. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

Your obedient servant, JOHN TOLEN, 

Major Commanding Second Regiment, E. B, 
Lieutenant J. L. Palmer, Jr., ,4. B. C. and Jl. .1. Ji. G. 

Mr. President, are such scenes as were witnessed 
in this camp calculated to promote discipline and 
to inspire respect for the officers in command, or 
affection for the Government that tolerates them? 
Doubtless, such officers will find methods to grat- 
ify their tastes in this direction, but I trust that 
they will not long be permitted to torment bet- 
ter men than themselves, who happen to be their 
inferiors in rank. Is it unreasonable to ask the 
Government to see to it that the spirit of the law 
of Congress shall not be evaded by indirection; 
and that examples of passion and violence and 
murder shall not be exhibited in our camps with 
the connivance or under the authority of our mil- 
itary officers .' 

The Senator from Ohio made to us, a few days 
ago, a most extraordinary statement of the con- 
dition of affairs at the capital of liis own State. In 
one of the military camps in the city of Colum- 
bus, are several hundred rebel prisoners of war. 
Some of them are attended by colored servants, 
claimed as slaves. These servants have been 
transported at Government expense, fed, clothed, 
and doctored by the Government; and while the 
rebel officers are allowed the freedom of the city 
upon parole, the servants are strictly guarded and 
confined in camp by our own soldiers. The free 
State of Ohio is virtually converted by the order 
or by the assent of a military commander, and 
against the wishes of the people, into a slave State; 
and that order is enforced by men in our employ- 
ment and under our pay. And this state of things 
does not exist in Columbus alone. Much indigna- 
tion was felt and expressed in the State of Illinois, 
where the same practice was allowed to prevail 
among the prisoners captured at Fort Donelson. 
The greater part, if notall, of these prisoners, who 
had slaves attending them at the camp near Chi- 
cago, were transferred soon after arriving there, 
the Government paying the cost of transporting 
both whites and blacks. Whether this transfer 
was prompted by a knowledge of the popular in- 
dignation that had been excited, and a fear lest 
the tenure by which the prisoners held them as 
slaves was hourly becoming more and more inse- 
cure, I will not undertake to say. 

How long, think you, will this method of deal- 
ing with the rebels be endured by the freemen of 



this country? Are our brothers and sons to be 
confined within the walls of the tobacco warehouses 
and jails of Richmond and Charleston, obliged to 
perform the most menial offices, subsisted upon 
the most stinted diet, their lives endangered if they 
attempt to obtain a breath of fresh air, or u beam 
of God's sunlight at a window, while the rebels 
captured by those very men are permitted to go at 
large upon parole, to be pampered with luxuries, 
to be attended by slaves, and the slaves guarded 
from escape by our own soldiers? Well might 
the General Assembly of the State of Ohio ask, in 
the language of a committee of their Senate: 

" Why were these slaves taken at all? They were not, 
and had not been in arms against the Government— their 
presence at Fort Donelson was not even voluntary. Why 
are ihev retained in prison ? They have done no wrong— 
they deserve no punishment. Is it to furnish rebel officers 
with servants ? And was it for this they were transported 
at the expense of the Government and are now subsisted at 
her cost? Is our constitutional provision thus to be made 
a nullity, and slavery practically established in Ohio? And 
this under the protection and at the e.xpense of the Federal 
Government." 

Mr. McDOUGALL. Will the Senator allow 
me to ask a question of the Senator from Ohio? 
Mr. GRIMES. Yes, sir. 
Mr. McDOUGALL. Was it stated that the 
slaves of Tennessee were kept as prisonei'S of 
war in Ohio? I did not understand you so to 
state it. 

Mr. SHERMAN. Slaves were captured at | 
Fort Donelson, brought to Ohio, and put in the 
same prison with their masters, and kept there. 
Mr. McDOUGALL. And held as prisoners ? 
Mr. SHERMAN. Held there and rendered 
menial service to those officers. 

Mr. McDOUGALL. I understood you to state 
that they waited on their masters; but 1 did not 
understand you to state that they were held by 
the Government of the United States. 

Mr. SHERMAN. They were held by the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, and draw rations 
now, and are supported by the Government ot 
the United States. I will state for the benefit of 
my friend that 1 have here a letter from the chau-- 
man of the committee of the Senate who made 
that report. 

Mr. GRIMES. The Senator will permit me 
to go on, and it can be read afterwards. 
Mr. SHERMAN. Certainly. 
Mr. GRIMES. In the month of February last, 
an officer of the third regiment of Iowa infantry, 
stationed at a small town in Missouri, succeeded | 
in capturing several rebel bridge-burners, and 
some recruitingofficers belonging to Price'sarmy. 
The information that led to their capture was fur- 
nished by two or three remarkably shrewd and 
intelligent slaves, claimed by a lieutenant colonel 
in the^'rebel army. Shortly afterwards the mas- 
ter dispatched an agent, with instructions to seize 
the slaves and convey them within the rebel lines, 
whereupon the Iowa officer himself seized them 
and reported the circumstances to headquarters. 
The slaves soon understanding the full import of 
' General Halleck's celebrated order No. 3, two of 
them attempted an escape. This was regarded as 
an unpardonable sin. The Iowa officer was im- 
mediately placed under arrest, and a detachment 
of the Missouri State militia— men in the pay ot 



this Government and under the command of Gen- 
eral Halleck — were sent in pursuit of the fugitives. 
The hunt was successful. The slaves were caught 
and returned to their traitor master, but not until 
one of them had been shot by order of the soldier 
in command of the pursuing party. 

Mr. President, how long shall we pei;mit such 
conduct as this to go unrebuked ? Does any one 
suppose that the people will quietly submit to the 
imposition of taxes to support a State militia in 
the field that is to be employed in the capture of 
slaves for the benefit of officers in the rebel army ? 
Is it supposed that the Senators from Iowa will 
silently, patiently permit the gallant olficers from 
that State to be outraged in the manner I have 
described ? 

It is quite time, Mr. President, that some defi- 
nite policy should be established for the treatment 
of escaped slaves; and I ain of the opinion that 
Congress has been grossly derelict in permitting 
the evil to go so long unregulated and unchecked. 
We have almost as many diverse systems of deal- 
ing with this classof persons as we have military 
departments. In one military district fugitive 
slaves have been pursued, flogged, and returned 
to their masters by our Army; in another they 
have been simply pursued and returned without 
flogging; in another they have been pursued and 
shot in the attempt to return them; in another they 
have been termed "contraband," and received 
within our lines in the mixed character of persons 
and property. In the absence of any authoritative 
declaration of Congress, none of these modes may 
be held to be in conflict with law other tiuui the 
law of common sense and common decency. 

It is obvious that the article of war which a 
have quoted does not meet the case presented by 
Major General Halleck in his order No. 3. That 
celebrated manifesto declares in substance that all 
persons from the enemy's country shall be ex-^ 
eluded from our lines. The plain purpose ot (he 
order is to prohibit fugitive slaves from escaping 
from the rebellious dislricts, and thereby securing 
their freedom. It was doubtless competent tor 
General Halleck to issue such an orde,r,lu-id it is 
equally competent for Congress, which has made 
and continues to make articles of war for the gov- 
ernment of the Army and Navy, to countermand 
it And, sir. It ought to be countermanued 1 
will not pause to discuss the humanitarian feat- 
ures of the question. Public policy, no less than 
popular feeling, demands that order No. J be for- 
ever erased. There never was a war waged nj 
the history of the world where the means, ot ac^ 
quiring information of the enemy's position and 
numbers from people in his own midst was more 
ample than here, and there never was one v, nere 
the commanding officers have suffered more irom 
lack of such information. Order No. 3 proposes 
to incorporate the fatuity and blindness wnich re- 
mained unwritten in other military departments 
into a historical record and a public advertise- 
ment. It proposes to warn all persons against 
bringing information of the enemy's mov.iuenis 
to our camps under penalty of being turned back 
to receive such punishment as the enemy may 
choose to inflict for betraying them, or for run- 
ning away and betraying combined. No organ- 



6 



ization of secret service can meet all the require- 
ments of an army operating in an enemy's coun- 
try, unless aided by some portion of the inhabitants 
of the country. What folly, then, to wall out and 
repel the very inhabitants who might bring us the 
information we most need, and who have every- 
where sbown an eagerness to do so ! 

It is the undoubted right and the duty of every 
nation, when engaged in a righteous war — and no 
other than a righteous war isjustifiableat all — to 
avail itself of every legitimate means known to 
civilized warfare to overcome its enemies. What 
will be thought by posterity of this nation, if, in 
the present emergency, we not only fail to employ 
the agencies which Providence seems to have 
placed at our disposal, but actually seek every 
opportunity to exasperate and drive from our su]i- 
port those who are anxious to serve us.' Were 
the Russian nobles now engaged in a rebellion 
against their Government, would we not regard 
their emperor as guilt)'- of the greatest folly if 
he not only declined to enlist the serfs of his em- 
pire to aid in suppressing the insurrection, but re- 
pelled them from his service and allowed his gen- 
erals to return them to his rebellious nobles, to 
be used by them in overthrowing his authority.' 
And can any one tell me the difference between 
the case I have put and our own? 

The whole history of the world does not ex- 
hibit a nation guilty of sucli extreme fatuity as 
has marked the conduct of our Government in its 
treatment of the colored population since the pres- 
ent war began. It seems^to be impossible to con- 
vince ourselves that war, with all of its attendant 
responsibilities and calamities, really exists, and 
that future generations will not hold those guilt- 
less who refuse to use any of the means which 
God has placed in their hands to bring it to a 
speedy and successful termination. History will 
pronounce those men criminal who, in this crisis 
of the nation's fate, consult the prejudices of 
caste or color, and regard the interests of property 
of paramount importance to the unity of the na- 
tion. 

It is useless to attempt to blink out of sight the 
great issues before us; issues thtxtmust be settled, 
and settled bij us. It were wiser and more manly 
to meet them squarely and at once. We are in 
the midst of the greatest revolution that ever oc- 
curred in ancient or moderi* times. Such armies 
as are now marshaled in hostile array on this con- 
tinent, in point of numbers, equipment, and ex- 
pense, have been hitherto unknown in the annals 
of mankind. We are imposing burdens in the 
form of taxes that will be felt by unborn genera- 
tions. We are suffering much now; we expect 
and are willing to suffer more. And why.' Be- 
cause we desire to preserve the integrity of our 
nation; because we believe that Heaven designed 
us to be one people with one destiny; the freest 
and happiest on earth. It was to preserve that 
unity of our national existence that our sons and 
brothers have gone forth to do battle. For this 
it was that the gallant men of Iowa have freely, 
triumphantly, laid down their lives at Wilson's 
Creek, Blue Mills, Belmont, Fort Donelson,Pea 
Ridge, and Pittsburg. And shall we, after these 
great sacrifices of life and treasure, hesitate about 



employing any of the instrumentalities in aid of 
the country that are known to civilized warfare.' 
Shall we not be recreant to our high trust if we 
doubt or delay in this particular.' 

This war will go on until rebellion is subdued. 
Upon this point there need be no controversy. 
Rely upon it, the northwestern States will sub- 
mit to no temporizing or compromising policy. 
They are too much in earnest; they have suffered 
too much already; they know too well what they 
would be compelled to suffer in the future to allow 
treason to go unpunished. It is because they 
desire to prevent the recurrence of the rebellion 
that they demand that it shall now be thoroughly 
crushed out. Among things necessary to be done 
to fully accomplish this purpose, we must con- 
quer and hold all of the forts and strong positions 
on the south Atlantic and Gulf coasts. How 
shall they be garrisoned when captured.' This is 
a question we shall soon be compelled to answer; 
and I am prepared for its solution. I answer it 
unhesitatingly that we should garrison them, in 
whole or in part, by soldiers of African descent; 
that instead of returning slaves to their reijel mas- 
ters to fight against us, we should employ them 
in our own military service. 

I know very well that this proposition encount- 
ers at once all the prejudices that have been en- 
gendered by differences of race, education, and 
social position; but let us look at it a moment so- 
berly and practically. It is assumed as admitted" 
by all that the southern forts must be captured and 
strongly garrisoned for some years to come. They 
are situated in a warm and enervating climate, and 
the particular location of nearly all of them ren- 
ders them more than usually unhealthy, even for 
that section of the country. In addition to the 
forts already established, we shall be compelled 
to build new ones. The rebels rely upon the dis- 
eases of their climate to decimate our northern 
army in the summer and autumnal months; and 
their confidence is well placed. Our troops will 
wither before the fevers of the Gulf coast as vege- 
tation does before the blast of ihe sirocco. Now, 
wehave in our midstthousandsof hardy, athletic, 
colored men, fitted by nature to endure the heat 
and miasma of the tropics, and some of them ac- 
customed to it, who are panting to be employed 
in the capacity of soldiers. Many of them hav- 
ing been in a state of bondage, have been aban- 
doned by their masters, and are now thrown upon 
us for support. Some of them were forced by our 
enemies into their military service, and have de- 
serted from it. They implore our protection, and 
we must give it, if we would not become a" scorn 
and derision" among the nations of the earth. 
They have shown on divers occasions, both on 
sea and land, that they belong to a warlike race. 
They are obedient and teachable. They can be 
subsisted much cheaper than white soldiers, can 
perform more labor, and are subject to fewer dis- 
eases in a warm climate. 

Now, with these facts before us, shall we refuse 
to employ them ? What substantial reason can 
be given for not doing so .' Is it because they have 
not the proper capacity for command ? Then give 
them white officers, as is done by the British Gov- 
ernment to the same race, by the French Govern- 



merit to the Arabs, and by the Russian Govern- 
ment to the Tartars and other semi-barbarous 
soldiers within that empire. Is it because they do 
not possess the average courage of soldiers ? In 
addition to the testimony in disproof of this, fur- 
nished a few days ago by the Senator from Mas- 
sachusetts, [Mr. Wilson,] I refer you to your 
vesselsof war, where you have hundreds of these 
men employed, and none more valiant. Is iLbe- 
cause they are not obedient to command ? The 
whole history of the race shows the contrary, for 
if there is any one thing for which they are re- 
markable more than another, it is their confiding 
submission to the will of their superiors. Is it 
said that we have white soldiers enough for all ot 
our purposes .> True, we have a large army, com- 
posed of men of unsurpassed valor and patriot- 
ism, who, if we require it, will sacrifice their lives 
for their country, whether by the sword or by dis- 
ease; but I would, if I could, recall a portion of 
them to their homes and to the industrial pursuits 
of life. Am I told that the enrollment of a few 
colored soldiers will be regarded by the Army as 
humiliating to them ? Mr. President, those public 
men fail to comprehend the character of Ameri- 
can soldiers who suppose that they are fighting 
for mere military glory, or that in this critical 
hour they are controlled by ignoble prejudice 
against color or race. They are citizens and tax 
payers as well as soldiers. They want the rebel- 
lion speedily crushed and the ^ipreme authority 
of the law established, leaving social and political 
questions to be settled afterwards. They leel that 
the desertion of every colored soldier, artificer or la- 
borer fi-om the rebellious States withdraws aid and 
support from the rebellion, and brings it so much 
nearer to an end. They cannot understand, nor 
can I, that refined casuistry that justifies us in 
converting the enemy's horse or ox to our use, 
and in turning their inanimate engines of destruc- 
tion against themselves, but denies to us the right 
to turn their slaves, their animate hostile engines 
in human form, to the same purpose. They can- 
not imagine why it is that some gentlemen are so 
willing that men of the African race should labor 
for them, and so unwilling that they should fight 
for them. 

What a wonderful difference of action and senti- 
ment there is on this subject between the oflicers 
of the Army and Navy. While officers of the 
Army have disgraced themselves, annoyed and 
incensed their subordinates, dishonored the coun- 
try, and injured the public service by the promul- 
gation of their ridiculous orders about slaves, no 
ofiiceroftheNavy,thankGod,has ever descended 
to follow their example. Their noble, manly, 
generous hearts would revolt at the idea of having 
imposed upon them the humiliating duty of cap- 
turing and returning fugitive slaves. They serve 
their country, not rebel slaveowners. They think 
that duty to the country requires them to avail 



themselves of the services of these people instead 
of driving them back to their masters, or suffering 
them to starve; and they act upon this conviction. 
At the taking of Hatteras, one of the large guns 
of the Minnesota was wholly manned and worked 
by persons called " contrabands," and no gun on 
the ship was better served. These people are, it 
is well known .remarkable for the proficiency they 
soon acquire as cannoneers. On the same ship 
is a boat's crew, every one of whom, including the 
coxswain, is a colored man, and there are none 
more skillful, or render more satisfactory service 
to the officers of the vessel. The whole country 
knows the services rendered by them to Commo- 
dore Dupont and to the vessels under his command. 
They have acted as pilots, and in the most im- 
portant positions, and I have the authority of the 
two superior officers of that fleet for saying that 
they have never been deceived or misled by any 
one of them. I am convinced that our expedition 
to the south Atlantic coast would not have been so 
perfect a success as it has been but for the slaves 
found there, and who were employed by our naval 
officers. There are more orlessofthem on all of our 
vessels of war. They are efficient men, and their 
presence produces no discord among the crews. 

Mr. President, I wish to be distinctly under- 
stood. I advocate no indiscriminate arming of the 
colored race, although I frankly confess that I 
would do so were it necessary to put down the 
rebellion. I do not favor this proposition merely 
because of its anti-slavery tendency. I approve 
it because it will result in a saving of human lile 
and in bringing the rebellion to a speedier term- 
ination. It is mv business to aid in bringing this 
war to a close by conquering an unconditional 
peace in the least expensive and speediest manner 
possible. Acting upon this idea of my duty, and 
believing that humanity and the best interests ot 
the country require the enrollment of a few col- 
ored regiments for garrisoning the southern forts 
I shall vote, whenever an opportunity shall be 
afforded me, for converting a portion of the col- 
ored refugees into soldiers, instead of forcing; them 
back into servitude to their rebel masters and their 
rebel government. We may hesitate to do this. 
Our hesitation will cost us the valuable lives ot 
many of our own race who are near and dear to 
^ us Our hesitation to use the means which Prov- 
; idence seems to have placed in our hands tor 
1 crushing the rebellion may carry desolation to 
many a loyal hearthstone. But we must adopt 
this policy sooner or later, and in my opinion 
the sooner we do it the better. The rebels have 
this day thousands of slaves throwing up intrench- 
1 ments and redoubts at Yorktown, and thousands 
j of them performing military duty elsewhere; and 
yet we hesitate and doubt the propriety of em- 
ploying the same race of people to defend our- 
selves and our institutions against them. Mr. 
I President, how long shall we hesitate ? 



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